Wall Street's food fight was still going strong Monday as Philip Morris moved to block Kraft's day-old restructuring plan, the two companies exchanged unpleasantries and Kraft's stock soared. But the Kraft-Philip Morris squabble, which began last week as the nation's largest non-oil takeover at $11.8 billion, was dwarfed by a $20.3-billion offer Monday for RJR Nabisco by buyout specialists Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.

British conglomerate Bass said Friday that it agreed to buy the Inter-Continental Hotels & Resorts chain from Japan's Saison Group for $2.9 billion in cash and assumed debt. Britain's second-largest brewer, which is already in the hotel business and operates restaurants and pubs, will pay $1.4 billion in cash for Inter-Continental. It will also assume $1.044 billion of the hotel chain's debt and pay off $450 million of its debt.

British conglomerate Bass said Friday that it agreed to buy the Inter-Continental Hotels & Resorts chain from Japan's Saison Group for $2.9 billion in cash and assumed debt. Britain's second-largest brewer, which is already in the hotel business and operates restaurants and pubs, will pay $1.4 billion in cash for Inter-Continental. It will also assume $1.044 billion of the hotel chain's debt and pay off $450 million of its debt.

Wall Street's food fight was still going strong Monday as Philip Morris moved to block Kraft's day-old restructuring plan, the two companies exchanged unpleasantries and Kraft's stock soared. But the Kraft-Philip Morris squabble, which began last week as the nation's largest non-oil takeover at $11.8 billion, was dwarfed by a $20.3-billion offer Monday for RJR Nabisco by buyout specialists Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.

April 14, 1989 | ALEENE MacMINN, Arts and entertainment reports from The Times, national and international news services and the nation's press

Four Japanese organizations have contributed $1.4 million to underwrite six one-hour PBS programs on "Nature Perfected." The series, due on PBS in the fall of 1990, "will explore the old world and the new, shed light and information on a variety of cultures, and examine how gardens have epitomized humanity's place in the natural and universal order." The contributors: Seibu Saison Group, Sumitomo Bank Ltd., Suntory Corp. and the Japan Assn. for the International Garden and Greenery Exposition.

April 12, 1989 | ALEENE MacMINN, Arts and entertainment reports from The Times, national and international news services and the nation's press

Four Japanese organizations have contributed $1.4 million to underwrite six one-hour PBS programs on "Nature Perfected." The series, due on PBS in the fall of 1990, "will explore the old world and the new, shed light and information on a variety of cultures, and examine how gardens have epitomized humanity's place in the natural and universal order." The contributors: Seibu Saison Group, Sumitomo Bank Ltd., Suntory Corp. and the Japan Assn. for the International Garden and Greenery Exposition.

Japan's Saison Group announced today that it has reached agreement with Sears, Roebuck and Co. to establish a joint auto servicing company in Tokyo. Officials at the giant Japanese business group that operates major department stores, hotels, restaurants and supermarkets as well as consumer finance and life insurance companies, among others, said the new company, to be called Tire Plus Co., will open for business in March.

"Rhythmstick" (CTI). High definition, letterbox format. Multitrack digital audio. $40. "Rhythmstick" features Dizzy Gillespie, Art Farmer, Tito Puente and 15 other international jazz all-stars in the first in a series of audio-visual projects from CTI. The company, which in the '70s and '80s presented such artists as Bob James and Freddie Hubbard, has been revitalized under the direction of its founder, jazz producer Creed Taylor.

Hilton Hotels Corp., once it sheds its casinos, could be viewed as an acquisition target by the same companies that bid for Inter-Continental Hotels & Resorts, said CIBC Oppenheimer analyst David Wolfe. Wolfe and several Hilton investors met Wednesday with Chief Executive Steve Bollenbach. The meeting followed last week's announcement that the company is considering separating its hotel and casino operations and buying Circus Circus Enterprises Inc.

As hundreds of applicants waited in line outside a new downtown hotel for job interviews Wednesday, about 25 union demonstrators demanded that management immediately allow employees to vote on whether to unionize. The protesters from Local 11 of the Hotel Employees & Restaurant Employees Union, joined by representatives from several community organizations, demonstrated in front of the Inter-Continental Hotel in Bunker Hill's California Plaza.

Another choice piece of Los Angeles real estate--the newly opened, luxury J. W. Marriott Hotel in Century City--has been quietly sold to a Japanese realty and development firm for $85 million. Sumitomo Realty of New York purchased the 375-room, 17-story building and certain leases on the property, according to Jonathan Q. Loeb, general manager of the J. W. Marriott. However, Marriott Corp. of Bethesda, Md., retains ownership of the land and continues to manage the luxury facility as a Marriott.

As U.S. and Japanese negotiators argued over foreign access to Japan's auto market, Chrysler Corp. announced Tuesday that it will spend $100 million to buy control of a dealer network here in a bid to boost its Japanese sales nearly eightfold by 1999. Chrysler's move will make it the first U.S. auto firm with majority ownership of a dealership chain in Japan. Chrysler will buy control of Seibu Motor Sales Co.